Hair curler



K. KIVILUOMA Feb. 3, 1953 HAIR CURLER File d Sept 2, 1950 IN VEN TOR.

Patented Feb. 3, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HAIR CURLER KatherineKiviluoma, Elmhurst, 111.

Application September 2, 1950, Serial No. 183,039

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in hair curling devices and, moreparticularly, it relates to devices upon which a strand of hair may bewound and secured parallel to the head for curling purposes, the Woundhair being held in position to effect a permanent wave, or to providepin curls or finger curls.

Various kinds of devices for curling hair have long been known. Suchdevices have included complex curlers and various types of hair pins, asfor example, bobby pins. None of these devices has proved satisfactorybecause they often required a great deal of skill in their applicationto the hair and when applied they have been unsightly, frequentlycausing the user to be embarrassed. In addition, the previously knowndevices have been uncomfortable, particularly when the user is asleep.

In addition, these heretofore known curling devices have not produced asculptured curl with sufficient resilience. The curls often looked amateurish and did not have the professional appearance of having been madeby a hair stylist. Furthermore, the curling devices commonly used wereincapable of retaining moisture so that it was necessary to wet theentire head of hair. Moreover, the hair curling devices known previouslyoften cut or damaged the hair, producing a curl having a ragged,unprofessional appearance. This is particularly true when bobby pins areused to hold the curl in place.

The main objects of this invention are to provide an improved haircurling device which may be quickly and easily applied, is pleasing inappearance when applied to the hair, provides a sculptured curl havingsufficient resilience to give it a professional appearance, may becomfortably worn by the user while sleeping, may be employed to producea curl without wetting all of the hair, and will not damage the hair;and to provide an improved hair curling device which will accomplishthese results without the use of bobby pins.

Illustrative embodiments of this invention are shown in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the method of applying theimproved curler to the end of a strand of hair as one of the first stepsin making a curl;

Figure 2 is a similar view to that illustrated in Figure 1 but showsmost of the strand 'of hair wound around the curler;

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the hair curling device inposition on the head, with the entire strand of hair wound upon thedevice and secured against displacement by a hair pin;

0 wave solutions.

Figure 4 is a plan view of one embodiment of my invention;

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view, taken on the line 5--5 inFigure 4; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view illustrating another embodiment of myinvention.

As illustrated in the drawing, the improved curler I, used for curlinghair 2, is generally in the form of a cross, such as a forme or Maltesecross, comprising an elongated, oval central section 3 and a pair ofarms 4, generally triangularin shape, which extend transverselyoutwardly in opposite directions from the central section.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated in Figures i and 5, the curler lis of multi-layer construction comprising an outer or facing sheet 5 offlexible material which is secured to a flexible inner or backing sheet6 which is preferably made of absorbent material. A wire or otherformable frame member I is secured intermediate the facing sheet 5 andbacking sheet 6 for holding the curling device I in various desiredshapes 3. The facing sheet 5 is preferably made of rubber, and may besuitably colored to provide a curler of pleasing appearance. The backingsheet 6 is preferably made of sponge rubber. Both the facing sheet 5 andthe backing sheet 6 should be made of a synthetic rubber which isparticularly adapted to withstand the chemical action of oils andchemicals of the type ordinarily employed in hair waving solutions andin the various curling operations in which heat is employed. Althoughuseof such a synthetic rubber is most desirable in the manufacture of mycurler, it will be understood that natural rubber or any combination ofvarious rubbers may be employed. In addition, the facing sheet 5 may befabricated from a fibrous material such as cloth, paper, etc., and thebacking sheet 6 may be made of other absorbent materials, as forexample, blotting paper, cloth, sponge, etc.

The frame member 1 is a stiff but formable wire and is disposed adjacentthe periphery of the curler I (Fig. 4). The wire may be covered orwrapped with a suitable material (not shown) such as rubber, to preventthe wire from rusting or reacting with chemicals with which the curlermay be used, as for example, various permanent The frame member isoperative to hold the curler in clamping engagement with the hair sothat hair pins and bobby pins are not necessary.

In order to apply the curler to the hair, a strand 8 of hair isseparated from the body of the hair as shown in Fig. 1, and the lowerend oi: the

curls made by previously known devices.

strand 8 is laid upon the central section 3 of the curling device. Thecurler is then folded upon itself to form a mandrel and so that thecentral section 3 extends around the strand of hair 8. By pinching thecurler l, as shown in Fig. l, the frame member I secures the curler tothe end of the hair strand.

The curler is then rotated inwardly with respect to the head in such amanner as to Wrap the strand 8 of hair upon the mandrel at therestricted portion of the curler 1,- intermediate the arms 4 and thecentral section 3. After the entire length of the strand is wound on thecurler, the curler is turned so as to lay the curl, shown at 9, againstthe head, and the arms 4 of the curler l are then bent outwardly withrespect to each other to hold the curl'in position and to provide thepleasing appearance cf a hair bow.

The curler I is capable-ofproviding larger curls than those madebygfinger waving, but the curler may be proportioned to provide curls ofany desired size. In addition, the curls are perfectly formed and havethat resilience which has been I characteristic of work done byaccomplished hair stylists.

It will be noted that when the curler is applied to the hair, no metaltouches the hair. This is an important feature of the invention as itprevents marking of the hair. Such marking often resulted in the pastwhen metal curling devices were used, and particularly when thesedevices were used with variouspermanent wave solutions. j l

While theframe section 7 has been found satisfactory for securing thewound curl 9 against the head, it is occasionally desirable to insert ahair pin 10 over the curler, -one..leg of the pin Ill extending acrossthe outerf'aceof the curler I and the other leg extending inback of thecurler and under the curl '9 (Fig. 3) pin can not cause any apparentmarkin of the hair.

The curler-;- may be applied to the hair while wet, butiit is mostdesirably dipped in water, wavin fiuid, or chemical employed for coldwaving hair, so that the backing sheet 5 absorbs the liquid. Thus, whenthe hair is wound upon the device, the curl is in intimate contact withthe liquid and it is not necessary to wet all of the hair. The curlerhas additional advantages in that hair pins are not required and aprofessional curl may be achieved by novices in the hair styling field.Furthermore, the device is highly advantageous for curling .childrenshair because there are no sharp objects to injure the child.

The curl resulting from application of my device I to the hair issculptured and has such bounceas to give the hair that appearance whichhas been only possible in the past through treat?- ment" by aprofessional hair stylist. Moreover, the curl is perfectly formed andlasts longer than The hair is made soft and beautiful, apparently fromthecontact with the absorbent backing sheet v6, and does not becomeharsh and brittle from freuen e tin The use of the hair A modified formof the invention is illustrated in Fig. 6. In this embodiment, thecurler II is made of sponge rubber. This modified device is shaped likethe curler previously described and applied to the hair in the samemanner as that described above. The portions of the modified curler IIwhich are similar to the curling device I are similarly numbered, themembers being differentiated by the symbol prime Since this modifieddevice does not have the frame member for securing it in the desiredposition, it i necessary to employ a hair pin in, the hair pin beingapplied as shown in Fig. 3 and described in connection with curler I.

In the foregoing, I have described a new and improved hair curler whichhas many advantages over the previously known devices for curling hair.For example, women need not remove the curler before retiring becausethey produce no discomfort, resilient curls may be made without wettingall of the hair, the necessity of bobby pins with consequent discomfortand damage to the hair is eliminated, and the device when ap plied tothe hair is as attractive as a hair bow.

Although but two specific embodiments of the invention have been hereinshown and described, it will be understood that details of theconstruction shown may be altered Without'departing from the spirit ofthe invention as defined by the following-claims.

I claim:

1. A hair curler comprising a generally cross shaped member made from apair of layers of rubber material, one of said layers being made of asheet of rubber, another of said layers being made of sponge rubber andbonded to said rubber sheet, a formable frame member intermediate saidsheet and said sponge rubber, said cross shaped member comprising acentral section and a pair of oppositely directed arms.

2. A hair curler comprising a generally cross shaped member made from apair of layers of rubber material, one of said layers being made of asheet rubber, another of said layers being made of sponge rubber andbonded to said ru ber sheet, a formable Wire frame member intermediatesaid sheet and said sponge rubber and adjacent the periphery of saidcross shaped member, said cross shaped member comprising an ovatecentral section adapted to extend around a strand of hair and apair oftriangularly shaped arms Which are connected to and extend outwardly, inopposite directions, from said central section, said cross shapedmember, when folded upon itself, forming a mandrel for winding on astrand of hair.

KATHERINE KIVILUOMA.

Name Date Webster Oct. 17, 1950 Number

